Dancing Through the Fire

Daily writing prompt

What books do you want to read?

I’m a huge Audible fan, so I tend to listen to books rather than read them. But sometimes, I do both. And I have numerous books that I bought years ago that I have yet to read. I want to read them all.

The book that I’m listening to this month is Dancing Through the Fire, a biography of Paul Weller.

I’ve liked Paul Weller’s music throughout most of my life. I remember back in 1977 being intrigued by all these new punk bands with similar names – The Clash, The Jam, The Damned, and so on. Then, in 1978, I particularly liked how The Jam developed, especially with the single, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight.

And when Weller eventually started the Style Council, I loved all their stuff too. I slightly lost interest after the Style Council split, but I got back into Weller’s music when he released Stanley Road in May 1995. And I often mention that I saw him in concert here in Limerick in 2024, at King John’s Castle, a relatively small venue. He probably could have filled Thomond Park, which is where successful artists generally play. It was years since I’d been to a rock concert. And it was fab.

I’m keen to get back to Tom Holland’s Dominion again soon. I “sort of” listened to it, but I sometimes listen to Audiobooks before I go to sleep, and wake in the morning, 7 hours further on 😀. It’s hard to figure out how much I’ve heard. What I need to do is sit for an hour each day and totally focus. Or else just read the actual hard copy of the book.

Microsoft Co-pilot summarizes it as follows:
Tom Holland’s Dominion is a sweeping history arguing that nearly every moral instinct of the modern Western world—human rights, equality, compassion, justice for the weak—comes directly from Christianity, even in today’s secular culture. It traces how Christian ideas reshaped society from antiquity to the present

I have a lot of “for dummies” and “for idiots” books on my list. I can’t decide whether I’m primarily a dummy or an idiot 😀. I just love how they present information. For example, I’ve been big into the Bible for the last 45 years, yet I enjoy the overview that The Bible For Dummies presents. I’ve read a few of the mental-health related ones, and I’m very keen to learn all about Artificial Intelligence and so much else.

I’ve so many to get through. These are just a small sample. Hopefully, they’ll all be available in heaven. Or someone can clear out my library and put it in a room in the pyramid that they build for me 😀 – assuming that they do build a pyramid for me 🧐.

So I’ll close with a couple of my favourite Paul Weller songs:

Shout to the Top

Soul Wandering

These two sound a little spiritual. But he’s so left wing and anti-establishment, he probably hates the thought of becoming a Christian and not being “cool” anymore.. But you don’t need to adopt a particular political stance to be a believer. I remember watching a TV show in Ireland, where Gay Byrne interviewed people about their outlook on religion. The two that I found most closely aligned to my evangelical views were Ian Paisley and Bono – who were poles apart politically.

Anyway, I pray for Paul Weller, and hopefully, you’ll pray for him too. I certainly believe that the Holy Spirit is behind so much human creativity, even among non-believers. Great music always points me to heaven.

And here are a few country songs about the greatest book of all – the Bible.